Xingxiao's gaze drifted over the ants on Belobog's walls.
She didn't seem to find what she was looking for. A flicker of boredom crossed those hollow, beautiful eyes.
Before arriving, she had already heard there was someone on this planet who was not weak.
That, in itself, was one of the reasons Xingxiao had come personally.
But now… the so-called Sword Champion was nowhere to be seen.
How dull.
"So," her voice remained soft, almost gentle, "has that Sword Champion fled?"
"Or… has she already become dust scattered through the cosmos?"
The words were light.
The chill they carried sank straight into every listener's bones.
Alisa forced down the terror clawing at her soul and tightened her grip on her weapon.
"Lady Jingliu would never—"
"Boring." Xingxiao cut her off with a languid sigh, raising a hand.
If the Sword Champion wasn't here, there was no reason to waste breath.
At her motion, the furnace cores in the chests of the five Doomsday Beasts ignited at once. Catastrophic energy gathered in a frenzy—every strand aimed at Belobog.
Everyone on the wall felt it.
A force capable of vaporizing the entire city in an instant.
Despair rolled over them like an icy tide, drowning every heartbeat.
"Belobog… Jarilo…" Alisa closed her eyes, waiting for the end.
And then—
Just before those five beams could erupt—
A clear voice, cold as spring water over ice, rang out. It cut through the battlefield's chaos as if the world itself made room for it.
"Who gave you permission… to touch my territory?"
Before the last syllable faded, a figure in plain white appeared like a phantom atop Belobog's highest wall, robes snapping in the screaming wind.
It was Jingliu.
Or rather—
Wei Qing wearing Jingliu's face.
"Lady Jingliu!" Alisa's relief hit so hard it nearly broke her. "You're back!"
The rest of the defenders exhaled—only to inhale again in panic.
Even if Jingliu had returned, could she truly stand against an Emanator and an army of this scale?
Hope was thin.
But when there is nothing left, people pray for miracles anyway.
High above, Xingxiao's eyes finally rippled with faint interest.
She tilted her head, studying the white figure on the wall.
"You finally show yourself, Sword Champion of the Luofu."
"For a moment I thought you sensed my arrival and ran."
Jingliu stood on the parapet, crimson eyes reflecting the endless black tide and the Emanator before her. Her expression was as calm as still water.
"Ran?" she repeated, voice cool and aloof, perfectly imitating Jingliu's cadence.
"With you?"
"You're not even worth the effort."
It was Wei Qing's first real attempt at using the mask's mimicry.
Aside from being… maybe a touch more confident than the original, even Jing Yuan would struggle to tell the difference if he were here.
But none of Jingliu's acquaintances were present.
Improvisation was safe.
Xingxiao gave a faint, pale smile.
She didn't anger easily. Emanators of Destruction had long since grown accustomed to the death-cries of insects pretending to be brave.
All of it was meaningless.
Xingxiao lifted her hand slightly.
The five Doomsday Beasts—energy already at its peak—finally found release.
Five beams of annihilation tore open the air and plunged toward Belobog.
The brilliance drowned Jarilo's perpetual gray sky, bleaching every face on the wall into ghost-white terror.
Wei Qing merely raised his gaze.
Then he stepped forward.
He held no weapon.
Only two fingers, raised like a sword.
A single, casual sweep.
A cold so absolute it seemed to freeze the soul itself descended. The planet's temperature dropped again, as though even winter had just learned fear.
The five beams of Destruction—still hundreds of meters above the wall—stopped.
They shattered.
They dissolved into glittering frost dust that drifted down like snow.
Silence.
A dead, stunned silence smothered the battlefield—Legion and defenders alike—because no one could fit what they'd just seen into their understanding of reality.
"Come," Wei Qing said softly, as if speaking to the air. "A sword."
His fingers cut again.
A vast scar of frost—an invisible sword stroke spanning heaven and earth—appeared out of nothing and swept across the sky.
Too fast for sight.
The five colossal beasts froze mid-motion.
Perfect white lines traced across their bodies—clean, flawless, as though drawn by an artist's hand.
Then the Doomsday Beasts split.
They became enormous ice statues, tumbling toward the ground.
Boom—boom—BOOM!
They shattered into powder upon impact.
One strike.
Five Doomsday Beasts—gone.
This is Lady Jingliu's strength. Understand?
Wei Qing calmly lowered his hand, self-satisfied to the point of obnoxiousness.
On the wall, Belobog erupted into a roar—cheers, sobs, frantic laughter.
"Lady Jingliu! Long live Lady Jingliu!"
"My—my god… is this… the true power of the Luofu's Sword Champion?!"
Hands shook. Tears streamed. The miracle they didn't dare hope for had arrived.
Maybe… just maybe… they could survive.
But the celebration didn't last long.
Because the Emanator still hadn't moved.
Xingxiao's heart, however, was no longer quiet.
Unlike the ants below, she could read what that strike truly meant.
Only the strong understood the horror behind that single cut.
Xingxiao's expression sank.
"…An Emanator of the Hunt?" she breathed.
That aura—unmistakable—had reached the level of an Emanator.
And that made no sense.
It violated logic.
A Hunt Emanator… in the Xianzhou?
Absurd.
The Xianzhou Alliance might enjoy Lan's favor, but the Hunt's Emanators were not something that simply appeared at will.
That was common knowledge across the cosmos.
Even after Qingzhou's betrayal, Luofu hadn't immediately crowned a new general—Teng Xiao had returned to the seat.
Aside from that traitor long ago…
The Xianzhou had produced another "rule-breaking" Emanator?
Xingxiao couldn't reconcile it.
So the Xianzhou had finally stopped pretending, huh?
Her confusion lasted only an instant.
Xingxiao forced it down with the reflexes of a veteran who had ended civilizations.
However Jingliu had become this…
It didn't matter.
What mattered was simple:
This was an opponent worthy of her full attention.
"No wonder you're so confident," Xingxiao said, voice still airy—yet now carrying weight. "A hidden Emanator of the Hunt within the Xianzhou Alliance…"
"Yes."
"That is reason enough for me to act personally."
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 126)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter130)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter89)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter157)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 133
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 125
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 84
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 143
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 115
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 99
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 53
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 75
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 75
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 52
Uma Musume: I Want All 51
I Can Copy Unique Skills 53
A Guide to Aid in the Underwor 26
Summoning an Evil God, but the 27
Supernatural Multiverse 27
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